by Chuck Dauphin
As one of Music City’s most successful artist managers, Stuart Dill has worked with acts ranging from Laura Bell Bundy to the Bellamy Brothers, as well as the legendary Minnie Pearl. He has helped artists such achieve such milestones as a first cut, a first hit, or a first award. Being on the other side of that is a little different. But, as author of the brand new book Murder On Music Row: A Music Industry Thriller (Blair Publishing), that’s exactly the emotions he has been feeling as of late.
“There is a little bit of a role reversal,” he admits. “It was very exciting to get the news that the publisher wanted to publish it. It was very exciting to open up and see the first galley, and realize that this thing was really in print. You want to share that with those that are close to you. So, to have it be a complete turn, where it’s actually your book and your creation being put out commercially – two things happen. One, you appreciate the people who believe in you in the beginning. I’ve played that role, but it’s nice to be on this side of it for sure. The favorite part of the writing of this book was the dedication and acknowledgements. I really enjoyed writing the book, but I really enjoyed dedicating it to my wife, and I really enjoyed thanking the people who cared enough to read it when no one else did. That’s the best part of it.”
With a job that gets him up early and often keeps him up late, why did he decide to write a book?
“I’m being asked that a lot these days,” he tells MNN. “The answer is not really simple. I don’t think I sat down and said ‘I’m going to write a murder mystery, and I’ll finish it in twelve months.’ It was a long period of pecking at an idea, and an idea that germinated that I just couldn’t shake. I just love the genre. I love mysteries. I loved Michael Crichton. I love John Grisham. That’s kind of my escapism. I think that Grisham once said that the formula is not that complicated. It’s taking an ordinary person, putting them in an extraordinary situation, and seeing if they can get out of it.”
Murder On Music Row follows the career of Nashville intern Judd Nix, who is climbing the career ladder at the most prestigious management company in town. His duties revolve around the career of superstar Ripley Graham. There are prospective record company mergers, a budding love story subplot, and even a shooting attempt that injures him and puts the life of his boss at stake. Dill is quick to point out this is fiction – not fact.
“Well, it’s my first novel, but obviously in fiction, you draw upon your own experiences. However, he storyline is fictitious. There is nothing that has happened like that. But, my goal was to make the environment of the music business and behind the scenes very real. At some point, when I realized it was going to be published, it was kind of sobering to realize that your clients and peers to read this and say ‘That doesn’t feel real.’ There are some real-life situations that are thread all the way through, with a very fictitious storyline right in the middle,” he said.
As a fan of the mystery genre, Dill was surprised that no author had attempted to write such a book before. “What better landscape than the music industry, and the treacherous waters of the entertainment industry to drop in a murder mystery. I kept thinking that someone would do it. I’ve had the idea of an intern being dropped into the literal crossfire of secrets between an artist, record company and manager for ten-twelve years. Finally, I just started pecking at it. It was written over a long period of time because of my day job. I’d write at night, and write when I could. I did a lot of revisions, got Blair to read it, and really wanted it to be published. I worked on it some last Christmas for quite a while to polish it up and make it a little more current, but the idea has been around in my head for a long time.”
One of the reasons that Murder On Music Row took so long to complete was that Dill wanted the book to feel current to the reader. With all the changes in the business over the last decade, that was easier said than done. “I had the idea more than ten years ago, and the music business has changed more in the last ten years than in its’ history. So, part of modernizing it was taking it to the digital age and the effects of Napster, file sharing, and how that has affected our industry. That landscape has changed dramatically. The idea of putting an unpaid intern in the midst of the music business didn’t change, but the landscape was rapidly. There was a merger in my mind. There have been a lot of mergers of record companies through the years with consolidation, but I really modernized it with how quickly it’s changed the last few years with the digital age.”
One of the unique aspects of the book is the inclusion of press releases that are sprinkled throughout that help the reader understand the “spin factor” that sometimes goes on within the press. “That was a literally tool that I had not seen before. From my position, you’re always dealing with media. There are spin doctors out there, and perception is reality, and reality is perception. There’s a little bit of wanting to tell the story and let the reader feel the rawness of how things happen behind the scenes, and to read the press releases with that back knowledge – they can read it through different eyes, and maybe it does feel like a spin.”
Dill, who started out as an intern under the legendary Jim Halsey, says there is some degree of him in Judd Nix. “There’s a romanticism there a little bit. I started as an unpaid intern twenty-seven years ago, so I lived that. It’s funny. We’re sitting here at 1105 16th Avenue, and back in 1984, I walked into 1111 16th – just two buildings down at the Jim Halsey Company and became an unpaid intern. So, I’ve only moved two buildings down in twenty seven years. I don’t know that it’s unique to me, but I think it’s unique part of our industry – the fact that we use interns as much as we use them.”
But, Dill stresses that the darker side of the business that he writes about is fiction. “I will say that my personal history of Music Row has been very positive, and not dark at all. But, we always say that the industry is not as glamorous as people think. There are a couple of things that struck me as I grew to be a part of this industry over time. It’s so small. That’s one thing that nobody expects. It’s a very small community. We touch so many millions and millions of people that sometimes people from the outside think the industry is so much larger than it is.
The author said that while he had a general idea about the storyline and how it would end up, the plot of the book did have some changes along the way. “I’m a rookie at this. In some ways, I think I learned how to write doing this. I took enough time to write a lot of stuff that was not well written, and trashed it. I think my wife and I counted about seventeen different versions. I wouldn’t say they are dramatically different, but there was a lot of rewriting for sure. Part of it was just trying to figure out how to write. I didn’t have workshops, and wasn’t a English major. I did have some friends who do this who gave me some good advice, and would read it, and give me some constructive criticism. But, that takes time. The ending was the hardest to write. It took some time to figure that out. It wasn’t quick.”
Just like any great mystery, some of the characters in Murder On Music Row have a dark side that you don’t see – until the final chapters of the book. “That’s true. I think the books that I have enjoyed kind of feel like a roller coaster. At the beginning, you are clicking your way up the top of the hill, then all of a sudden, you take a nosedive down and there are some twists and turns, and it gets pretty furious at the end.”
Dill says that to do that properly, “You’ve got to do some character development, and get the tone right in the beginning. That’s part of it, I think. The other is I’ve never read anything that is a music industry thriller. I enjoy reading things that are unexpected, and that’s what makes it a thrill. So, the fact that it goes dark is hopefully part of the intrigue.”
The early response from his friends and associates in the industry has been positive.
”I say that it’s cheaper than therapy – it was a great escape. It was a hobby that kind of got out of control. My wife, who’s the great encourager, said ‘You’ve got to have somebody read this,’ and some of the early readers would say ‘There are glimpses of things that are great, and some that need some work.’ When it was finally accepted, and was going to be published, I was a little nervous how clients and people in the industry that I respect would respond. But, the response has been surprisingly great.”
Some of his biggest cheerleaders have been from artists he has represented over the years. “Jo Dee Messina, who has been my longest client, she knew I was writing it, and really wanted to read it. She was genuinely enthusiastic about it. Rodney Crowell read it, and he is so cerebral, and is such a force on the creative side. I saw him in person after he read it, and he grabbed me and said ‘I’m proud of you.’ That was like your father giving you a pat on the back.”
But, there have been comments from others inside the industry that he doesn’t know. “Marshall Chapman read it, and I don’t know her, but I think a lot of her. We got a blurb back from her, and it was very positive. We also got a review back from Publisher’s Weekly – that’s an odd thing – someone giving it praise that you really don’t know at all. It’s been very positive. I really didn’t have great expectations.”
To promote the book, Dill will be appearing at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville in October. “That’s going to be fun. I’ve attended that. My wife and I go every year. There was a write-up in the Tennessean that the novel was going to be featured. That was a surreal moment. Ann Padgett and I were mentioned in the same sentence. That was amazing. I just finished her newest, which is just stellar.”
Dill says he wouldn’t mind if the book led to some more speaking opportunities. “I love talking about the music business. If this was a foray into speaking to college kids at universities about the music business and the inside – if this was an avenue to do more of that, I would love to do that. I love this career, and the people that I have met here.”
Those stories, unlike the ones in Murder On Music Row, have been very bright and positive!
For more information on the book, go to www.BlairPub.com!
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